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Validity of upcoming election challenged
Published Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Questions have surfaced about a fair election in Selma.
Particularly, some incumbents seeking re-election or election to another position want to ensure nobody will tamper with election machines prior to voters casting their ballots Aug. 26.
The questions came up Monday after Selma City Clerk told council members Election Systems and Software would provide a substantial number of voting machines to the city.
Selma City Clerk Lois Williams said she would store the machines in the basement of City Hall until election day. She assured the council of the machines' safety.
"When the voting machines come to us, they have no brain," Williams explained. "They're just a dummy, so to speak."
On Aug. 20, a representative with ES&S will test the machines and place the cartridges or "brains" in the machine, where it will remain until election day. Other safety precautions include a lock or seal on the machines and counters zeroed out for voting tallies.
If either the lock or the counters show tampering on election day, the city won't use the machines, Williams said.
But some council members raised concerns about the integrity of the election with the machines stored in City Hall.
Councilman Cecil Williamson said he has issues with the machines having the cartridges in them in the basement of City Hall for five days.
Previously, the city has used voting machines owned by ES&S, but stored at the Dallas County Courthouse.
"I don't see why we are changing things, right now," Williamson said.
The councilman has raised issues before about the city clerk being a disinterested party and her ability to conduct the election. He and Councilman Reid Cain, who is not seeking re-election have contended because Williams at one time said publicly she supported the mayor, she might prefer him.
The council has gone so far as to ask the city's attorney, Jimmy Nunn, to seek an opinion from the state Attorney General's office about allowing Probate Judge Kim Ballard to oversee this year's municipal election.
Said Cain, "The courthouse could be considered more of a disinterested party than the City Hall in this instance."
Nunn pointed out the law allows the clerk to put the machines where she deems a fitting place. The report by Williams was a courtesy, Nunn said.
"We're trying to keep the city council involved as we do this," the attorney said. "We want everyone to be happy or to try to make everybody happy as we go through this election process."
Four years ago, some candidates raised questions about the validity of votes in some boxes after people came into the polls with laptop computers.
Council President George Evans said counters might not reflect what has happened to a machine. He had watched a documentary, "Hacking Democracy," which showed a machine zeroed out on the counter, but when checked, the machine contained votes for different people.
HBO broadcast the documentary recently. In it, filmmakers claim the makers of voting machines — Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia — have all denied people can get into them or hack them in various ways.
Comments
Posted by Nina (anonymous) on July 18, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Didn't see the HBO show but all the reviews say that It shows hacked elections.
Maybe we need to go to purple thumbs?
Posted by MintJulep (anonymous) on July 19, 2008 at 9:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
If the machines have been stored at the Court House prior to this election why change now? They could be stored there and either Kim Ballard or Harris Huffman could keep the key(s) to the storage room.
Who is to check the machines on voting day to assure the locks or the counters don't show tampering, one of Perkins supporters?
Due to the fact the mayor is running for reelection, IMO it would be prudent for him to be as far away from them as possible until the election.
Posted by Something2think_about (anonymous) on July 22, 2008 at 10:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Boy, if I wanted to tamper with these machines the state of California published a study online that tells me how to do it... It can be found at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voting_s...
So here you go...
"In the physical security testing, the wire and tamper proof paper seals were easily
removed without damage to the seals using simple household chemicals and tools and
could be replaced without detection (Ref item A.1 in the Summary Table). The tamper
proof paper seals were designed to show evidence of removal and did so if simply peeled
off but simple household solvents could be used to remove the seal unharmed to be
replaced later with no evidence that it had been removed. Once the seals are bypassed,
simple tools or easy modifications to simple tools could be used to access the computer
and its components (Ref A.2 in summary). The key lock for the Transfer Device was
unlocked using a common office item without the special ‘key’ and the seal removed.
The USB port may then be used to attach a USB memory device which can be used in as
part of other attacks to gain control of the system. The keyboard connector for the Audio
Ballot unit was used to attach a standard keyboard which was then used to get access to
the operating system (Ref A.10 in Summary) without reopening the computer. The seal used to secure the PBC head to the ballot box provided some protection but the
InkaVote Plus Manual (UDEL) provides instructions for installing the seal that, if
followed, will allow the seal to be opened without breaking it (Ref A.3 in the Summary
Table). However, even if the seals are attached correctly, there was enough play and
movement in the housing that it was possible to lift the PBC head unit out of the way and
insert or remove ballots (removal was more difficult but possible). [Note that best
practices in the polling place which were not considered in the security test include steps
that significantly reduce the risk of this attack succeeding but this weakness still needs to
be rectified.]"
There is more to this report, but some feel those who would want to "manage" this election have already read it!
Posted by disgruntled (anonymous) on August 25, 2008 at 3:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So if the person guarding these machines is too ignorant to know that they can be tampered with, doesn't that mean we are in trouble. Selma is already filled with too much corruption for anyone in office now to stop which is obvious since the person in control of our votes is arm in arm with Perkins. They say that if the machines show tampering they won't use them, but this is from the same person that doesn't know they can be tampered with and supports the candidate that is the main reason Selma is full of drugs and crime. How will she know. Besides that, we all know that (the devil himself) Perkins probably already has some one set up to tamper with the ballots.It might even be Williams! He's been sending our town to Hell too easily for too long and these same people that the Selma-Times Excuse interviews are most likely the ones that have helped him! I swear no one in this town has a clue or wants one. Go smoke another one Mayor!
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